"Hi, boys," he called. They were all mobs, including the officer in charge. All were big, burly, and grim looking. The guards wore chainmail hauberks and plain iron helmets. Standard swords hung on their hips, and each held a six-foot spear with a red horsehair tassel. "Can you tell us what the next town is up the Forest Road?"
He'd already checked his map, so knew it was Knaresburg. It was a town twice as large as Oxenbluff, with a Baron serving as Lord as opposed to the Manor Lord, Sir Rufus, ruling their town. Killum only wanted to divert their attention away from Asha, and hopefully engage them in friendly conversation. Happy gate guards were friendlier.
"Knaresburg is half a day's hard walk," the officer said. Killum assumed he was a Lieutenant, since he was wearing a US Army silver bar rank insignia. The game designers hadn't used much creativity there. "But the longer Trade Road is safer. Forest Road goes by Goblin Gully."
"Is it dangerous?" Asha asked.
Killum wanted to tell her to shut up and let him do the talking, but the guards were all looking her over with interest. Considering how hot she looked, he didn't blame them, but she was wearing her Robes of Concealment, so was covered head to toe in black. Unfortunately, even those robes couldn't completely conceal her shapely body.
The battle-mage thought they could take out the guards, but there were more on the other side of the gate. That was too many for them to fight. Screw that. I've already been killed once.
So instead, to get them focused back on him, "Are there any dungeons or monsters that need killing around here?"
"Dungeons?" one of the guards said. "You must be Immortals."
All of the guards scowled at them. Were mobs jealous of players? He had to admit, if he was a mob then he'd be jealous of an immortal player. He nodded and most of them turned away. That was just fine with him. Killum didn't really expect an answer.
"There's Goblin Gully," the officer said. "It's full of undead goblins, hobgoblins, and orks. There are rumors of vampires and necromancers, too."
"My thanks, sir," Killum said, ushering the others through the gate before the guards changed their minds. "Is Goblin Gully far?"
"It's a little over an hour up the road. Believe me, you can't miss it. I suggest you stay on the road and just run past it."
"They won't chase us?" Tiana asked.
"No. I think they are bound to the place."
Once out of the town, Killum led the way up Forest Road. Really, it was a footpath through the woods. He didn't stop for a good ten minutes to ensure they were alone.
"Okay," he said, stopping at a gurgling brook for a drink and short rest. "If the undead monsters at Goblin Gully are bound, then it's a dungeon. We all agree to tackle it, right?"
"Hell yes," Rand said. "I need to feed my pretty new axe and fill up my purse."
"Of course I want to take on the dungeon. That's actually why I play the game," Asha said.
Fergus even looked eager, while Tiana just nodded. So Killum pulled up his map, zoomed into their location and looked for Goblin Gully up the road. Asha took the opportunity to remove her Robes of Concealment, complaining about the heat.
"Push her into the water," Rand said, looking like he wanted to. "That'll cool her off."
"I'll turn you into a dog if you even try."
Rand hesitated, but grinned. "I've never seen anyone get turned into anything else in the Game, so I don't think you can do it. Besides, this is just our second day here. I doubt you'd have that spell if it exists."
Asha took a step toward the dwarven warrior, and cocked her head as she studied him. "You'll be a small dog. Probably one of those yappy little Chihuahuas."
"Emphasis on yappy," Fergus said with a laugh.
"Ha ha, you're the elven king and queen of comedy in the forest," Rand said, but no longer looked eager to push the sorceress into the water. "I'm rested. Let's go kick a dungeon's ass."
As they continued up the road, Killum considered which spells to use. He had a disorientation spell, and could throw fireballs. He had a ring on his left middle finger that shot out lightning bolts, but would electricity kill the undead? He knew zombies would burn.
I wish I had more time in the spell shop, he silently lamented. But I'll load up on spells in Knaresburg.
That really depended on how much loot they won along the way. He'd spent all but one silver and twenty copper shekels on Witchers Alley. Fergus and Rand owed him three silver shekels and some change for the money he loaned them, but they couldn't pay him back until they won some loot, too. Tiana, though, was awful cagey about how much money she had, so he thought she'd stolen a lot.
She's the most mercenary of us all, he thought, glancing back at the redhead. Probably because she's an accountant in real life.
They moved quickly, eager for the fight. Killum smiled when they topped a low hill and spotted goblins and hobgoblins ahead. The mobs were one and all extremely pale. Most telling was the blank looks on their faces.
"They are very undead," Asha said. She pulled her sword, a wicked smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The sorceress' eyes narrowed as she called up a fireball in her left hand. "It's time to start making them all the way dead."
"You mean…" Killum said, curling his left hand into a fist and pointing it at the milling zombies. "Like this?"
He focused on the closest zombie, a completely naked hobgoblin. A lightning bolt thundered out of his ring to strike the zombie in the chest. The mob dropped like a rock, but every other zombie turned their way.
"Show off," she said, and threw her fireball.
The five of them charged into battle as a goblin burst into flames. The poor undead mob ran around in circles, flapping his arms for a long moment, before finally succumbing to the flames. They avoided him as they plowed into the others.
Killum thrust the Wolfsheart Spear into the heart of a goblin, and shouted, "HAI!"
That sent a surge of magical power through the spear that blew the zombie off, sending him through the air a good dozen feet. Killum froze, staring incredulously.
"Did you know it did that?" Fergus asked.
"No."
"Be mindful of your health and mana!" Asha called, levitating up to throw fireballs at the zombies. "Watch out behind you, Tiana!"
Killum glanced over to see the thief spin around and fire two arrows into a ghoul. That's when he realized the goblins and hobgoblins were there to pull them into a trap, so the ghouls could circle around and hit them from behind. Fergus was already turned around to shoot arrows into the eerily silent ghouls.
The battle-mage pointed his left hand at the ghouls, and fired one, two, three bolts into them in quick succession. He was then forced to turn back to engage a trio of goblins attacking with just their bare hands. Killum thrust his spear into the heart of the middle undead goblin, but before he could blow him off of the spear, the little monster grabbed the haft and fell back.